Jun 12, 2008 7:11 pm US/Eastern
HealthWatch: 'Plan Ahead' & Her Ovarian Reserve
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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"Plan Ahead" can tell a woman about her ovarian reserve, or how many eggs she has left by measuring certain hormone levels.
CBS
Many women are choosing to start families later in life, but fertility has its own clock. The decline begins about 30 years old, and by 40, the quality of a woman's eggs is significantly diminished. But a new at-home test is helping women better predict their future.
Cristy McNally wants to have kids, but not for a few more years.
"I'm 28-years-old and I'm - you know - planning on delaying children probably until my late 30's," said McNally.
But fertility doesn't always wait.
"The rate in which women lose their eggs are different for all of us and I just wanted to see where I stood," said McNally.
So she decided to have a new test called "Plan Ahead," which can tell a woman about her ovarian reserve, or how many eggs she has left by measuring certain hormone levels.
"If a woman is interested in getting pregnant, maybe not now, and wants to look in the gas tank and see what's left, this gives her a little information where she would otherwise have none," said Dr. Alan Penzias.
The test measures only the number of eggs, not the quality of those eggs, or a woman's ability to conceive, said Dr. Holly Phillips of CBS 2.
Some fertility experts think the company is capitalizing on women's anxieties and say the reliability of the test has not yet been established.
But Dr. Alan Penzias, a reproductive endocrinologist, says the simple new blood test could help save women years of infertility treatments and thousands of dollars.
"Putting info into women's hands is very empowering because then it allows them to use this in their life plan and make positive proactive choices rather than feeling at the mercy of something after it slipped away," said Dr. Penzias.
"I want to be financially ready to have a child and I want to be set in my career," said McNally.
The test is not approved by the FDA. It costs about $400 and can be ordered over the phone. Results are sent to both you and your doctor within two weeks.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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